 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2012) |
| Mary Wilson | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 1, 1979 | |||
| Recorded | 1979 | |||
| Studio | Paramount Recording Studios, Hollywood; NSP Studios | |||
| Genre | R&B, Soul, Disco, Funk | |||
| Length | 32:00 | |||
| Label | Motown | |||
| Producer | Hal Davis | |||
| Mary Wilson chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Mary Wilson | ||||
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Mary Wilson is the debut solo album by the founding Supremes member, Mary Wilson, released on the Motown label in 1979.
In October 1976, The Supremes had released their 29th and last studio album, Mary, Scherrie & Susaye , just nine months before they officially disbanded as a group.
On June 12, 1977, the Supremes performed their farewell concert at the Theatre Royal in London as Wilson made her exit for a solo career. Scherrie and Susaye had selected Joyce Vincent Wilson to round out the trio as a new third member, however, Motown decided that without any original members, the Supremes would be disbanded.
Upon leaving the Supremes, Wilson became involved in a protracted legal battle with Motown Records over its management of the Supremes. After an out-of-court settlement, she signed a solo record deal with Motown negotiated by her husband, Pedro Ferrer. Her contract required her to record two LP's per year for the next five years. According to an interview Ferrer did for Black Echoes magazine, Wilson's contract was worth a million dollars a year for each of those five years. Her husband also mentioned in the interview that Marvin Gaye was scheduled to produce the album. However, Gaye was preoccupied with his divorce from Berry Gordy's elder sister Anna Gordy during the time. It is not clear why Gaye never took part in the album production.
Wilson's debut solo effort ended up being produced by Hal Davis who produced some of The Supremes earlier material as well as having worked with The Jackson 5 and with Michael Jackson on his early solo albums for Motown.
Prior to the release of the album the infamous Disco Demolition Night took place at Comiskey Park in Chicago on July 12, 1979. Despite the radio ads and label promotion, the "Disco Sucks" movement impacted the release which heavily featured disco. [1] The album was a commercial failure and did not chart on the Billboard 200 but charted for a week at #74 on its R&B albums listing. Cashbox magazine however charted it for five weeks on its pop albums chart, peaking at #168. Its lead single, "Red Hot", Billboard placed on the R&B singles chart at #95. The follow up single, "Pick Up the Pieces", did not chart. An extended version of "Red Hot" was made available as a 12-inch single and reached #85 on the disco charts in October 1979.
Wilson made her U.S. solo concert debut at the New York, New York Club in Manhattan with Diana Ross in attendance lending her support. [2] only a few weeks following the album's release. The concert was held from August 28 to September 3. She also embarked on her first solo tour of the United Kingdom booked with club and cabaret venues to promote the album. The tour was later extended.
In an interview with Cashbox :
Wilson described herself as "basically a ballad singer, "although some disco cuts are included on her album. But, she says, that's really nothing new. "I firmly believe," she stressed, "that disco has been done by Motown for years." As for the transition from back-up singer to soloist, she says, hasn't been difficult. "It's really no different if you've had the stage experience. There's just more words to learn." But there have been painful transitions in her life, and she admits that "leaving the Supremes was the hardest thing I had to do. I was very proud of that tradition, it was like the Beatles, and I'll always be proud of it." [2]
After the release of Mary Wilson, Wilson began working on her second solo album for Motown with English record producer Gus Dudgeon (who had already produced 4 new tracks for the new album). However, midway through the production of the album, Motown dropped Wilson from their roster in 1980.
Wilson's next album, Walk the Line , would take some 13-years before being released in 1992.
A posthumous EP, entitled Mary Wilson: Red Hot Eric Kupper Remix EP, was released September 3, 2021. The EP featured three new different dance versions of Wilson's 1979 "Red Hot" single produced by Kupper. [3] [4]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Cashbox | (Favorable) [5] |
| Record World | (Favorable) [6] [7] |
In a contemporary review, Cashbox published:
'This is the first solo LP from the ex -Supreme and she fares well on this disco oriented excursion.The album is chock full of emotionally charged dance numbers and intense R&B workouts. Art Wright's rhythm, horn and string arrangements are perfectly suited to Wilson's soaring vocals. The energetic "Red Hot," the spirited "Midnight Dancer" and "(Love A) Warm Summer Night," with its moving rhumba beat, are the key cuts on this LP.' [5]
In separate, contemporary reviews, Record World published:
'The last of the original Supremes makes her solo debut with a Hal Davis produced LP of seven dance oriented tunes. Ms. Wilson finely displays her skills on "Red Hot," her current single, and "(I Love A) Warm Summer Night."' [6]
'As everyone must know by now, Wilson was one of the founders (and longest member) of the Supremes and her vocals are instantly identifiable after years of recording. This first solo album is a slickly executed disco disc featuring tunes by the writing duo of Frank Busey and John Durate. The opener "Red Hot" seems like a natural.' [7]
All tracks composed by Frank Busey and John Duarte
Two days prior to her death, Mary announced on her YouTube Channel that she was working with Universal in re-releasing her solo LP; expanding it with the four Gus Dudgeon tracks. [8] A new song entitled, "Why Can't We All Get Along", previously unreleased was included on the expanded edition and released as a posthumous single on March 5, 2021 ahead of the album re-release. [9] The expanded edition was released on April 16, 2021 marking its official debut on all digital platforms such as Spotify and iTunes.
In October, 2021, Real Gone Music in partnership with Second Disc Records announced a physical compilation to be released in December, 2021. [10] Entitled Mary Wilson: The Motown Anthology , it includes the original Mary Wilson LP (available for the first time on compact disc), including a track entitled "Anytime At All", which is an early version of the single "Red Hot". The Anthology boasts a total of thirty eight tracks, highlighting Mary's career from The Primettes, to the Supremes, to a solo artist, to her final single, "Why Can't We All Get Along".
| Chart (1979) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) [11] | 73 |
| US Cashbox [12] | 168 |
| US Record World [13] | 154 |
| US Record World Black Oriented Albums [14] | 49 |
| Chart (1979) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Dance Club Songs ( Billboard ) [15] | 85 |
| US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs ( Billboard ) [16] | 95 |
Mary Wilson was an American singer. She gained worldwide recognition as a founding member of the Supremes, the most successful Motown act of the 1960s and the best-charting female group in U.S. chart history, as well as one of the best-selling girl groups of all-time. The trio reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100 with 12 of their singles, ten of which feature Wilson on backing vocals.
Scherrie Ann Payne is an American singer. Payne is best known as a member and the co lead singer of the R&B/Soul vocal group the Supremes from 1973 until 1977. Payne is the younger sister of singer Freda Payne. Payne continues to perform, both as a solo act and as a part of the "Former Ladies of the Supremes" (FLOS).
"Someday We'll Be Together" is a song written by Johnny Bristol, Jackey Beavers, and Harvey Fuqua. It was the last of twelve American number-one pop singles for Diana Ross & the Supremes on the Motown label. Although it was released as the final Supremes song featuring Diana Ross, who left the group for a solo career in January 1970, it was recorded as Ross' first solo single and Supremes members Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong do not sing on the recording. Both appear on the B-side, "He's My Sunny Boy".
American girl group The Supremes has released 29 studio albums, four live albums, two soundtrack albums, 32 compilation albums, four box sets, 66 singles and three promotional singles. The Supremes are the most successful American group of all time, and the 26th greatest artist of all time on the US Billboard charts; with 12 number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and three number-one albums on the Billboard 200. The Supremes were the first artist to accumulate five consecutive number-one singles on the US Hot 100 and the first female group to top the Billboard 200 albums chart with The Supremes A' Go-Go (1966). In 2017, Billboard ranked The Supremes as the number-one girl group of all time, publishing, 'although there have been many girl group smashes in the decades since the Supremes ruled the Billboard charts, no collective has yet to challenge their, for lack of a better word, supremacy.' In 2019, the UK Official Charts Company placed 7 Supremes songs—"You Can't Hurry Love" (16), "Baby Love" (23), "Stop! In the Name of Love" (56), "Where Did Our Love Go?" (59), "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (78), "Come See About Me" (94) and "Stoned Love" (99)—on The Official Top 100 Motown songs of the Millennium chart, which ranks Motown releases by their all-time UK downloads and streams.
Reflections is the twelfth studio album recorded for Motown by Diana Ross & the Supremes. Released in 1968, it was the first regular studio LP to display the new billing of the group formerly known as "The Supremes." It contains the singles "Reflections", "In and Out of Love" and "Forever Came Today". Also included are covers of songs made famous by Martha and the Vandellas and The 5th Dimension. Also present are songs written by other famous names, including "Bah-Bah-Bah" co-written by Motown singer Brenda Holloway with her younger sister, Patrice, an original Smokey Robinson composition titled "Then", and "What the World Needs Now Is Love" by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, which Motown planned to release as a single in the spring of 1968, but cancelled. It also contains a cover of Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe," whose original recording kept the single #2 "Reflections" from peaking at the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1967, and it hit #2 on Cashbox.
"Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" is a 1967 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label.
Touch is the twenty-third studio album by The Supremes, released in the summer of 1971 on the Motown label. It was the third and final LP under the supervision of Frank Wilson, who had been the group's main producer since 1970, when Jean Terrell joined as lead singer. The album also marked the first Motown contributions by composer-producer Leonard Caston, Jr. and writer-lyricist Kathleen Wakefield: "Nathan Jones", a hit single sung by all three members, which was later recorded by Bananarama, and "Love It Came to Me This Time".
High Energy is the twenty-eighth studio album by American girl group the Supremes, released in 1976 on the Motown label. The album is the first to feature Susaye Greene; former member of Stevie Wonder's Wonderlove; and is notable for featuring the last Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 pop hit for the group, "I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking". Of their 1970s releases, High Energy is the second-highest charting album on the US Billboard 200, the first being Right On (1970). In Canada, High Energy is the highest-charting Supremes album since TCB (1968).
Mary, Scherrie & Susaye is the twenty-ninth and final studio album by The Supremes, released in 1976 on the Motown label. It featured the final line-up for the Supremes, composed of original Supreme Mary Wilson and latter-day members Scherrie Payne and Susaye Greene. All three Supremes take leads on the album. The album was a mixture of disco dance tracks (Hi-NRG) and R&B ballads. Payne and Greene mostly took over the dance tracks while Wilson performed the ballads. The album was released in October 1976, nine months before the trio disbanded.
"Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart" is a 1966 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label.
"Floy Joy" is a song written by Smokey Robinson and released as a single in December 1971 by popular Motown female singing group The Supremes.
"Forever Came Today" is a 1968 song written and produced by the Motown collective of Holland–Dozier–Holland, and was first made into a hit as a single for Diana Ross & the Supremes in early 1968. A disco version of the song was released as a single seven years later by Motown group the Jackson 5.
"Bad Weather" is a song recorded and released as a single by Motown vocal group The Supremes in 1973. It was composed by Stevie Wonder and Lynda Laurence's brother Ira Tucker Jr., and produced by Wonder. The song was Jean Terrell's last charted single as lead singer of the Supremes and the second and last time Laurence was featured on a Supremes single.
"I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking" is a disco-styled soul single composed by the Holland brothers Eddie and Brian, members of the former Holland–Dozier–Holland team and was released as a single by Motown vocal group The Supremes in 1976 on the Motown label. It was the first single since "Your Heart Belongs to Me" in 1962 to feature four Supremes. It is also notable for being the last top forty single the group would score before they disbanded in 1977.
"I'll Try Something New" is a song written by Smokey Robinson and originally released in 1962 by The Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla subsidiary label. Their version was a Billboard Top 40 hit, peaking at #39, and just missed the Top 10 of its R&B chart, peaking at #11. The song was released later as a joint single by Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations, also becoming a charting version on the Billboard 100 pop singles chart, peaking for two weeks in April 1969 at number 25.
"Touch" is a soft ballad written by Pamela Sawyer and Frank Wilson, who also produced it as a single for Motown recording group The Supremes, who issued it as a single in 1971.
“You Gotta Have Love in Your Heart” is a duet single between Motown singing groups The Supremes and the Four Tops, released as a single from their The Return of the Magnificent 7 album in 1971. The single became a modest charter peaking at #55 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and #41 on the U.S. Billboard R&B Singles Chart. The single fared better in the UK, where it reached #25 in the official top 50 single chart. Lead vocals were by the groups' respective lead singers Jean Terrell and Levi Stubbs.
"Where Did Our Love Go" is a 1964 song recorded by American music group the Supremes for the Motown label.
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"He's My Man" is a single released by Motown singing group The Supremes, listed as catalog number M1358F. It is the lead single released from their 1975 self-titled album, The Supremes. The single's peak position was 69 on the US R&B charts, and number-one on the regional Disco charts.